Doesn't the government owe me a shopper who delivers and can hook me up with some chronic crack? I would think they would have reusable bags AND only one environmental killing car instead of two.
Power to the People.

I read the article, but I'm afraid they don't make a very strong case for anything more than correlation. The plastic bag ban happened, and shoplifting has increased. I'm not sure how requiring that people bring their own bags would *cause* shoplifting to increase, however. Presumably it's because people fill up their bags and then just walk out, and the clerks can't tell whether or not they've actually paid for those items? Well, that's not the fault of the bag ban, that's the fault of the store for not modifying their system to catch this.

At my local Fred Meyer, for example, the alert system by the door is so ineffective that when somebody walks out and it goes off, the clerks don't even look up, they just wave them off.

I still think it's absurd that I can't use a plastic bag at the store but some random company can dump a 500 page phonebook on my porch, but I'm not ready to blame the bag ban for increased shoplifting.

Fred Meyer has an HR policy that no employees are to try and stop a shoplifter. The exceptions are Security staff and even those aren't allowed to chase them, only try and keep an eye on them while they wait for Police to show up.

Before the bag ban, the shoplifters would bring their own paper bags in, fill them with groceries, etc and just walk out.

The difference is that now they have their own reusable bags.

The fact that more are doing it doesn't mean that the bag ban caused the increase in theft.

Looking back on it, the reusable bags are a great vehicle for theft. Of course, there are many who probably thought of this well before me, and who have already successfully used this technique to their great advantage. Government giveth and government taketh away. But the recipients are not always the ones intended.

"Who were you testifying to -- Admiral Randy?" I specifically questioned the security issue in testimony before a Senate Committee in Salem that was considering a statewide ban. Were they listening? Not likely.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 80
At this date last year: 89
Total run in 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269